49 Black Devil Maiden Xiao Yue (1/2)
Because of the new environment Xiao Yue had been instantly moved to, her first reflex had been to find hiding behind one of the small ruins that covered the area to observe what was going on.
From there she could observe the dozens of disciples fighting in the arena, trampling on what looked like cities and fields from far away.
”A miniature world! These cities are not far away, they are really tiny!”
In fact she herself was located on top of what must have been in the past a big castle. The ruined high walls that currently shielded her weren't taller than a meter, which would translate to at least five stories compared to the size of this dimension.
Even the mountains that closed off this small valley were only about ten meters high and a couple hundred meters apart.
But Xiao Yue didn't spend too long wondering about how this dimension came to be or if it had been inhabited by small humans at some point in time. She had observed the scene for long enough now and had an inkling as to what was going on.
Up above in the small clouds, thunder roared never endingly. In fact it only took a couple of lightning strikes to understand that bolts would strike the central tower whenever a disciple killed another.
At first glance this sub-trial looked completely barbaric but after she witnessed the same disciple being killed then flashing back to life in a random place, Xiao Yue understood that everything happening here was illusory.
”This looks like fun! We can kill each other and practice fighting without actually suffering damages!” she was overjoyed.
The tower central to the arena contrasted highly with the size of the dimension. As if it was hundreds of meters tall, the proud looking building housing the black spear overlooked the ruined cityscape.
On all sides of the tower, spiraling steps could be seen flashing on and off with different colors. In fact there were as many sets of stairs as there were disciples.
Xiao Yue was still observing when she felt a presence behind her. Although she was close to the mountains, she wasn't exactly at the edge of the arena.
An orange robed disciples that looked to be twenty or younger had sprung into existence right behind her!
Almost as soon as the young man spotted her, he attacked mercilessly with a battle cry through his clenched teeth.
Xiao Yue's divine sense didn't have the time to completely register the disciple when her sharp reflexes took over.
The sword she took out with a slap to her bag of holding was of course the good-grade treasure she had come across previously. The same sword that had been embedded in the cranium of an Ice Winged Serpent that three red robed disciples fought together before of of them betrayed the others.
This weapon was the best she had at her disposal by far, and her mastery over it proved worthy of a fine blade.
Without thinking twice, Xiao Yue spun on her feet, slicing the approaching orange robed disciple with ease. The moment the blade exited the young man's body, thunder roared, and a lilac colored lightning bolt struck the black spear on top of the center tower.
The next instant, a lilac step had appeared at the bottom of the tower, next to all the other colored assortments of stairs.
”Ooooooh, I get it! Each strike gets you a step” she realized the point of the sub-trial. ”Then... if I get enough kills it will reach the top and the treasure will be mine!”
Looking at the sword in her hand and probing the tower, Xiao Yue immediately knew that the menacing black spear was in a completely different league.
It was at this moment that her eyes started burning with a strange passion, a passion that would only be extinguished when she attained her new goal.
Most of the disciples participating in the trial were orange robed, although a third of them were red robes lucky enough to have reached the icy tundra this fast. None but a couple of cultivators she recognized could really pose a problem to her it seemed.
Xiao Yue came out of hiding, but in the confusion of the fight between a few dozen parties, not one person turned to her.
”They are all already fighting... Then I just have to join the battle!”
As it turned out, the first opponent Xiao Yue met was the guy she had already cut down once.
”This time, you are going to die, trash!”, the fool uttered, seeking revenge before Xiao Yue impaled him with a smile.
”Trash? Seriously?” she replied right as the man was being teleported elsewhere.
Leaping into action, Xiao Yue then proceeded to take down two disciples fighting each other in one fell swoop by surprise.
The thunder roared twice more, the lilac steps on the tower now numbering four. There seemed to be at least a hundred more steps before it reached the top.
What happened next could only be described as barbaric domination.
Slowly at first, Xiao Yue reached twenty steps. As it turned out, each time a disciple would die, their own sets of stairs would lose one step. This way in order to reach the black spear, the victorious had to not only kill a lot of the others but limit their own amount of deaths.
After reaching her fiftieth step, Xiao Yue saw that most of the disciples present didn't even have a single step of their color remaining.
It was then that she chose to call in a loud Shinsoo-enhanced voice to everybody to fight her.
A few of the disciples entranced by the trial hadn't noticed her progression yet, but the number of lilac steps as well as her outrageous provocation made their blood flow in reverse.
Between steps fifty and ninety, Xiao Yue was surrounded at all times by her own volition and yet not once did she lose her life. Her sword spun around again and again, mercilessly taking down anyone in her path.
The total carnage she had brought with her didn't stop for another twenty steps.
By this point all the disciples had given up, most of them dispirited enough to want anxiously to leave the sub-trial and return to their bodies in front of the black monolith in the icy tundra.
Some of them were even crying a little.
Even Xiao Yue herself had become bored at some point. If nobody wanted to fight her, then what was the point? Where was the fun in that?!
Some disciples were sitting cross legged in the middle of the arena, simply waiting for Xiao Yue to slaughter them.
Xiao Yue had been dragging her sword on the ground for a while, not bothering with a fighting stance before slicing people.
It was upon reaching the hundred and tenth step that one of the disciples jumped at her furiously, trying to score at least a point from her before her win.
In the end, Xiao Yue had finished the trial with a hundred and eleven kills and not a single death.
The black spear that was repeatedly struck by lightning descended into her hand, dousing her in a black light that made her look terrifying.
The next instant, all the disciples found themselves back into their own bodies right as the black monolith crumbled into fine black dust.
Xiao Yue was standing in the middle of them, the Black Devil Spear in hand, a bit hazy. Black smoke seemed to rise up from the entire length of the spear, catching all the surrounding light.
The look of the orange robed girl was since then etched into their memories forever, as well as the nickname Black Devil Maiden Xiao Yue.
It was unknown who called her that at first, but she heard their cries as they flew away from her upon being teleported back in the ice tundra.
Now Xiao Yue was roaming the tunnels of the ancient maze, the name Black Devil Maiden echoing after each of her encounters with another disciple.
***
Right as Xiao Yue was lamenting her loneliness and whishing for her sister Shin Sumi to reunite with her soon, the latter was opening her eyes, a few levels below in front of the green Vein of Hell Fire.
As her consciousness left its meditative state out of time and space, Shin Sumi instantly probed herself by reflex. Her body now seemed to be glowing from the interior as her divine sense roamed around her meridians and Shinsoo openings.
The number of Shinsoo doors unclogged had risen up from fifty-two to fifty eight!
”Only six more to go and two veins left” she thought as she stretched lightly.
With every of her movements, Shin Sumi felt the power of her muscles almost rumbling, brimming with raw strength. Her silhouette was as slender as always but she had made quite a leap in strength as she had absorbed unknown quantities of pure Shinsoo energy.
If before absorbing a Vein she felt like a piece of coal, now she was more akin to a diamond, refined and pure.
Her mind was suddenly struck by the feeling of being watched. Shin Sumi turned around sharply, calling the now tame Gold Tyrant Flying Sword to her hand in an instant.
Not ten meters from her was a Blood Wolf. Of course Shin Sumi remembered the single wolf that had followed her all the way to the Vein of Hell Fire. Out of weapons and ideas, she had only been saved by the presence of the strong pressure from the Vein that had allowed her to put some distance between her and the beast.
But now she couldn't believe her eyes!